Vangelis, Composer of Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner Soundtracks, Dies Aged 79
upstart writes:
Vangelis, composer of Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner soundtracks, dies aged 79:
Vangelis, the Greek composer and musician whose synth-driven work brought huge drama to film soundtracks including Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire, has died aged 79. His representatives said he died in hospital in France where he was being treated.
Born Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou in 1943, Vangelis won an Oscar for his 1981 Chariots of Fire soundtrack. Its uplifting piano motif became world-renowned, and reached No 1 in the US charts, as did the accompanying soundtrack album.
[...] Vangelis had continued his film score work throughout the 1970s, but it was in the 80s that this reached its commercial heights. Chariots of Fire became inextricable from Vangelis's timeless theme, and the music became synonymous with slow-motion sporting montages. "My music does not try to evoke emotions like joy, love, or pain from the audience. It just goes with the image, because I work in the moment," he later explained.
His score to Blade Runner is equally celebrated for its evocation of a sinister future version of Los Angeles, where "replicants" and humans live awkwardly alongside one another, through the use of long, malevolent synth notes; saxophones and lush ambient passages enhance the film's romantic and poignant moments. "It has turned out to be a very prophetic film - we're living in a kind of Blade Runner world now," he said in 2005.
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